Now that the Polk County Efficiency Commission appears to have settled on a consultant to help its work, the question will be where things go from there.

The first Efficiency Commission, which completed its work in 2006, focused on consolidation of government services, some privatization and a few process changes.

Many of the recommendations were implemented at the time and the collapse of the real estate bubble forced county officials to tighten its operations beyond anything the commission recommended.

There are still some outstanding issues that the current Efficiency Commission may want to revisit.

One involves how to finance the cost of paying for monitoring, maintaining and fixing the Polk County stormwater system in the face of tougher state and federal environmental regulations .

The last Efficiency Commission suggested that there should be some direct link between the value of the service to residents and what they pay for it. It recommended imposing a stormwater utility fee or a stormwater impact fee.

Polk County’s response was to find a source of existing revenue from a public service tax to temporarily plug the gap, but in more recent years have had to use a combination of gas taxes and property taxes to pay for it.

Commissioners considered levying a stormwater fee last year, but backed off in the face of public opposition. There are no immediate plans to resurrect the idea.

One of the things commissioners were looking for in deciding whether to reconsider the stormwater fee was the need to have a committee to look at the issue and to deal with the criticism that earlier proposals faced. Perhaps the Efficiency Commission could serve as such a committee if it’s inclined to revisit the issue .

Add to that the fact that the top-ranked consultant listed fees for services as something that should be explored in the next examination of county government efficiency may nudge the discussion.

There are other issues that will be before the commission, but a 2010 charter change asked that they be more focused and not try to take on the expanse of county government in one bite.

Other issues include whether there are more opportunities for consolidation or outsourcing and whether technology can be used more smartly to improve work flow.